Last month, Nicole Kidman came in as a replacement for Sofia Vergara on The Paperboy, after Vergara and Tobey Maguire dropped out of the project due to scheduling issues. Now, a new actor has stepped up to fill Maguire’s role: John Cusack. Based on a 1955 novel by Pete Doctor, The Paperboy follows a reporter and his brother as they investigate a murder that put the suspect on death row. Cusack will play the part of the prisoner. Kidman, as previously reported, will be a woman who writes letters to inmates on death row.

The Paperboy marks Lee Daniels‘ follow-up to 2009’s Precious, which was nominated for six Academy Awards. The film will also star Zac Efron; Matthew McConaughey is currently in advanced negotiations. [Variety]

The cast of He Loves Me, directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris‘ follow-up to Little Miss Sunshine, has just signed five more stars. Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood), Steve Coogan, Elliot Gould, Chris Messina, and Antonio Banderas have joined the cast, which also includes Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, and Annette Bening. The Daily Show correspondent (and, um, The Last Airbender actor) Aasif Mandvi is currently in negotiations.

Dano stars as a young novelist named Calvin who is suffering from a severe case of writers’ block due to his loneliness. However, things start to change when he writes a fictional dream girl for himself — and manages to will her into existence (Dano’s real-life girlfriend Kazan, who also wrote the script). Woll will play the part of Calvin’s ex-girlfriend, Coogan Calvin’s literary rival, Gould Calvin’s therapist, Messina Calvin’s brother, and Banderas the partner of Calvin’s mother (Bening). Mandvi, if he signs, would be Calvin’s agent.

Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, who worked with Dayton, Faris, and Dano on Little Miss Sunshine, are producing. Shooting will begin later this month. [24 Frames]